1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to supercharged engines. More specifically, the present invention concerns a supercharged engine with an aftermarket supercharger that replaces the original-equipment supercharger, which is preferably designed for use in a personal watercraft.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Supercharged engines, with forced air induction systems installed either as original equipment or as aftermarket equipment, are well known in the art. Such prior art engines commonly include limited mounting locations for the supercharger. For example, turning to FIGS. 2, 4, 4a, and 8a, a prior art supercharged engine SE is illustrated that presents a single mounting location that is also non-adjustable. The illustrated supercharged engine SE is incorporated into a SEA-DOO® personal watercraft, manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products, Inc., Quebec, Canada. The supercharged engine SE includes an engine E and a supercharger SC. The engine E includes the mounting location that receives and supports the supercharger SC. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 4a, these figures are conceptual drawings that represent Applicants' understanding of the prior art, and it is particularly noted that the prior art construction may actually vary slightly from Applicants' understanding.
Supercharged engines and aftermarket superchargers are problematic and suffer from certain limitations. Prior art supercharged engines are not designed to take advantage of recent supercharger technology improvements, particularly those improvements introduced by the Assignee of the present application. Such improvements permit the supercharger compression element of a supercharger to safely and reliably spin at much greater rotational speeds than the superchargers installed on the prior art supercharged engines. Additionally, prior art vehicle and supercharged engine configurations include power-take-off mechanisms and present supercharger mounting configurations that typically restrict or preclude the replacement of the original-equipment supercharger with aftermarket superchargers. Furthermore, conventional techniques for installing aftermarket superchargers, e.g., chain or belt drives, are particularly deficient where the engine and supercharger are drivingly interconnected by a gear drive and the surrounding structure prevents the installation of conventional belt or chain drives. Therefore, the conventional techniques do not permit the addition of aftermarket superchargers that provide greater rotational speeds than original-equipment superchargers.